The Hera Group approved the financial statement results

17 years of continuous growth, with the improvement of the main economic-financial and sustainability measures

Turnover at7,443.6million euro (+12.3%)

Ebitda at 1,085.1 million euro (+5.2%)

Net profits at 402.0 million euro (+35.5%)

Proposed dividends at 10 Euro cents per share

The Hera Group closed 2019 with growing results, validated by the Board of Directors on 25 March and pending approval by the Shareholders' Meeting scheduled for the end of April. Thepartnership with Ascopiave, completed last December and responsible for the creation of the largest energy operator in the North-Eastern Italy, will be consolidated in the results of 2020. The Group’s path of development, in its 17 years of life, continues to combine internal and external growth, reaching significant economies of scale and increasing synergies, thanks to a multi-business industrial strategy that over time has proven to be a winning strategy for Hera, now Italy’s leading multi-utility by capitalisation. The improvement in operating-financial results goes hand in hand with the growing creation of shared value, which has long become the thermometer of the company's progress towards sustainability.

Good contribution to growth coming from business areas, especially the gas, water and waste management sectors

Positive results thanks to both internal and external growth

Sharp rise in energy customers, which reach roughly 3.3 million thanks to the partnership with Ascopiave

Sorted waste increases to an average of 64.6% across the areas served

Improvement in all sustainability indicators, with shared value Ebitda growing to 422.5 million euro (+13%)

“These results - commented theExecutive Chairman Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano commented - demonstrate the merits of Hera’s multi-utility formula which, in a year made difficult by factors including a significant negative impact in the safeguarded customer segment, was able to deploy a wide range of development projects that guaranteed, quarter after quarter, positive growth in all activities. Our expectations were thus outperformed and, at the same time, our track record with 17 years of uninterrupted growth was confirmed, further improving our financial solidity in a year in which unprecedented efforts were seen in capital expenditures. In 2019, furthermore, two fundamental targets included in the business plan to 2022 were reached in advance: the finalised transaction with Ascopiave led the Hera Group to amply meet its objective of 3 million energy customers and, with our enlarged set of waste treatment plants, we were fully able to grasp the positive market trends seen as of 2019”.

"The growth achieved with these results - added the CEO Stefano Venier - is also characterized by the creation of value. A value that continues to progress towards a greater sharing and in respect of 11 out of 17 fundamental goals defined by the UN. The progress made by this value shows that it is increasingly shared, respecting 11 out of the 17 fundamental goals defined by the UN. The Group’s risk profile, now more important than ever, continues to be extremely conservative, and has allowed the Group to continue expanding through a transaction, involving Ascopiave, that brought us among the highest-ranking companies in Italy for energy sales, only behind the two ex-incumbent energy groups. These are solid grounds, therefore, on which to rely in difficult moment, such as the one currently witnessed due to COVID-19, with respect to which we were able to activate, in a short period of time, all measures necessary to guarantee that our activities are not interrupted and health protection is provided for our employees and for all our stakeholders, along with proactive assistance for all our customers, whether households or companies”.

Hera is the Italian multi-utility that improves every day, with regard to the environment, the quality of its waste management, water and energy services through strong links in the area in which it operates and the capacity for innovation